State of the Ocean.org

MARINE SCIENCE AT THE RIO+20 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

IPSO attended the Rio+20 Conference in order to reflect the views and findings of marine scientists in relation to the state of the ocean.

Participating in negotiations, events and press conferences, IPSO's representatives worked with the ocean conservation community to advocate for rapid and urgent measures to protect the ocean's deteriorating health.

Holding a side event with the High Seas Alliance, IPSO brought in scientists from around the world, via Skype, to present a topline synopsis of the state of the ocean and the outcomes of the 2012 workshop.

Although the Conference fell a long way short of the action scientists have identified as essential, it did see an unprecedented level of interest and became one of the most high visibility issues and the last piece of text to be resolved.

In contrast to 1992, attention on the ocean was significant and led to protracted and heated debate within the negotiations, making this a breakthrough year for the cause of ocean conservation.

Professor Alex Rogers of IPSO said: “There will never be the future we want without the ocean we need. We have to use Rio+20 to draw a line under the talking and start the doing. These decisions are all urgent, important and game changing measures which should be immediately implemented by governments as a direct response to the oceans text.”

To see the side event which IPSO organised go here
To see Alex talking about the importance of the ocean at rio go here
For more information about the ocean at Rio+20 visit oceansinc.org

OCEAN SOLUTIONS: 2012 International Earth System expert workshop

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Leading marine scientists are gathering in Oxford, UK, from the 19th to the 21st March 2012, to propose creative solutions to Ocean problems. Convened by IPSO in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its World Commission on Protected Areas, this interactive workshop will produce an updated picture of Ocean management, stressors and impacts, and stimulate the innovative thinking needed to develop a suite of practical recommendations.

This workshop follows the first-of-its-kind event held in March 2011, where IPSO and partners met to determine the net effect of what is already happening to the ocean and what is projected for the future. The groundbreaking outcome of the 2011 workshop documented the cumulative effects of multiple impacts on the Ocean, and stressed that concerted action is urgently needed to avoid a new era of mass Ocean extinctions. The March 2012 workshop will determine the specific directions which this concerted action should take, provide case-studies of marine initiatives that are already working, and generate "outside-of-the-box" ideas for inventive solutions and how to implement them.

The 2012 Workshop is well-timed to promote Ocean solutions in the run-up to the Rio + 20 Earth Summit in June 2012. The outcomes of this unique event will also be promoted to a worldwide public audience to raise awareness of the critical state of the Ocean, and the solutions available to redress it.

A Workshop Report will be published and widely disseminated to policymakers and stakeholders.

Click here for the 2011 Workshop Report and related stories.

The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) was established by scientists with the aim of saving the Earth and all life on it.

Every sea and ocean on our planet is part of one, global Ocean. This Ocean is like the earth's circulatory system: it performs numerous vital functions which make the planet habitable and we cannot survive without it. Currently, the Ocean is in a critical state of health. If it continues to decline, it will reach a point where it can no longer function effectively and our planet will be unable to sustain the ecosystems that support humankind.

Climate change is the biggest single threat to our Ocean's health, but it's not the only one. If the Ocean is to continue functioning at a level capable of sustaining life as we know it, we need to tackle climate change and alleviate the other pressures we exert upon it.

IPSO's unique consortium of scientists and other Ocean experts — including those from the legal, communications and political arenas — identify the current problems, project the future outcomes of these problems and develop workable solutions to alter the trajectory of degradation.

Everything that IPSO does, it does to preserve our Ocean so that life as we know it can continue.